Legislation
SDGA is monitoring proposed bills moving through the New Hampshire legislative process. In some cases, the SDGA has taken a position to support or oppose proposals.
The table below lists the bills being tracked by SDGA, along with a summary of the purpose, our position in support or opposition, and information about the current status of the bill, including a link to the NH General Court website for the most current status of the bill and the full proposed text.
Note that the table scrolls to the right for visibility of all columns. The table is sortable by the column headings.
Title | Bill Number | Prime Sponsor | SDGA Position | Commentary / Call to Action | Next Action Date | Committee | Status | Disposition | Next Action | Link to full text | Link to NH General Court Docket | SDGA Blog | Year |
Relating to use of money raised by taxation for education. Providing that money raised by taxation may be applied for the use of religious educational institutions. | CACR7 | Cordelli ( R ) | Support | Allows money raised by taxes to be used for religious schools, aligning NH Constitution with Espinoza vs. Montana DOR U.S. Supreme Court ruling | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Establishing the parental bill of rights. | HB10 | Packard ( R ) | Support | Makes parental rights absolute in NH, especially in schools. School officials must not keep information about students secret from their parents | TBD | House Children and Family Law | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Relative to school board member qualifications. | HB103 | Roy ( R ) | Support with amendment | This bill is overly broad by prohibiting members of municipal governing body and budget committee serving on school board | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to governing body members of the budget committee. | HB123 | Roy ( R ) | Support | Makes school board and selectboard member ex-officio non-voting members of budget committees, eliminating double voting | TBD | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to governing body members of the budget committee. | HB123 | Roy ( R ) | Support | Eliminates the ex-officio school board and selectboard members on the budget committee from voting twice on the same expenditures, once on their governing board and again on the budget committee | TBD | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Committee Report | 2023 | |||
Relative to menstrual hygiene products in schools. | HB129 | Edwards ( R ) | Support | Requires state to fund cost of products, eliminating unfunded mandate | 01/24/23 | House Finance | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Requiring reports concerning school policies on classroom recordings and in-classroom observers | HB131 | Moffett ( R ) | Support | Ensures classroom recordings and in-classroom observer policies are appropriate | 02/01/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Membership of the advisory committee on the education of students with disabilities. | HB147 | Kuttab ( R ) | Neutral | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | ||||
Relative to the handling of requests made under the right-to-know law. | HB149 | M. Smith ( D ) | Support | Requires public body to provide updates on RTK requests every 30 days | 02/01/23 | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Requiring the teaching of cursive handwriting and multiplication tables. | HB170 | Hobson ( R ) | Support | Requiring teaching these skills a (instead suggested) is key to improving student achievement | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Establishing a committee to study school meal programs in New Hampshire's public schools and non-sectarian schools that accept public funds. | HB181 | Horrigan ( D ) | Neutral | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | ||||
Relative to non-academic surveys in schools. | HB204 | Belcher ( R ) | Support | Closes loopholes for non-academic surveys delivered in digital format and those that seek information on emotional response; all require parental notification | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Relative to school district unanticipated funds. | HB207 | Plett ( R ) | Oppose | Raises threshold for accepting / expending unanticipating funds without a hearing from $5K to $20K. Would reduce transparency and fiscal prudence. | TBD | House Finance | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to remote participation in public meetings under the right to know law. | HB254 | Simpson ( D ) | Support | Clarifies requirements for remote electronic participation by members of public bodies, with minimum quorum requirements | 02/01/23 | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Prohibiting cities and towns from discriminating in the use of public facilities. | HB256 | McGuire ( R ) | Support | Prevents selectboards and school boards from unlawfully discriminating against any group based group's speech or purpose | 01/30/23 | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to criminal records checks in school employment | HB267 | Alexander Jr. ( R ) | Support | Allows on-going criminal checks on employees, beyond initial checks, to protect students | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Increasing chartered public school per pupil funding. | HB272 | Mooney ( R ) | Support | Provides $1,730 per student state funding grant increase to public charter schools, to $5,141, supporting these schools who operate in a fiscally prudent and cost effective manner | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Allowing a town to appropriate funds to create a town scholarship fund. | HB293 | Hill ( R ) | Support with amendment | Town government should not be using taxpayer funds for scholarships. Support with amendment that a scholarship trust fund may be created and funded with voluntary donations only, no taxpayer funds. | 01/26/23 | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Relative to requiring all selectboard and school board meetings to be recorded and broadcast live online. | HB295 | Damon ( D ) | Oppose | Unfunded mandate requiring governing board meetings to be video recorded and live streamed to public, unnecessary burden on local taxpayers. | 02/02/2023 | House Municipal & CG | Report Filed | Pending | House | 2023 | |||
Relative to attorney's fees in actions under the right to know law. | HB307 | McGuire ( D ) | Support | In right to know cases (RSA 91-A), this bill proposes awarding reasonable attorney's fees upon final judgment in favor of the requester, and not also have to require that the public body or public agency knew or should have known the conduct engaged in was a violation of RSA 91-A | 02/01/23 | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to a quorum for meetings open to the public to include remote presence. | HB308 | Nutter-Uppingham ( D ) | Oppose | Relaxes requirements for remote participation in public body meetings, requiring no reason for remote participation. | 02/01/23 | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Committee Report | 2023 | |||
Relative to civil rights education in public elementary and secondary schools. | HB309 | Ulery ( R ) | Support | Provides objective instruction on US and NH history regarding civil rights and acts of discriminatory injustice, with NH Department overight and RSA 91-A safeguards | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to petitions for warrant articles at a special meeting. | HB312 | Malloy ( D ) | Oppose | Makes citizen petitions for special town or school district meetings impractical by requiring signatures from 10% of voters, versus current requirement of 50 voters. | TBD | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the reductions from the default budget for official ballot town meetings. | HB313 | Yokely ( R ) | Support | Commonsense change for SB2 towns and school districts, by requiring that salary and benefit reductions from turnover are deducted from the default budget. | TBD | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to minutes from nonpublic sessions under the right to know law. | HB321 | Yokela ( R ) | Support | Bi-partisan bill supporting transparency. Requires public bodies to review non-public sealed meeting minutes every 10 years for continued non-disclosure. If not reviewed, minutes become public. | 02/01/23 | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to school building aid for eligible projects. | HB332 | Cahill ( D ) | Oppose | Requires minimum of $60M annually appropriated to school aid building fund starting in FY24. Requires $5M to be used for projects started FY10-FY19. Currently annual appropriation is capped at $50M. Risk is that change may incentivize school building project "wants" over true "needs" with available funding. Recommend passing amended HB546 instead, allowing legislature to determine right funding level each biennium. | TBD | House Finance | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to determination and cost of state adequate education. | HB334 | Schamberg ( D ) | Oppose | This bill repeals current grant formula based on number of students and differentiated grants (special education, English language learners, free/reduce priced meals), replacing with 50% of statewide average. This will accelerate unnecessary spending in public schools. Also repeals EFA differentiated aid, harming current and future EFA families. | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to transportation for students attending career and technical education centers. | HB364 | Ladd ( R ) | Neutral | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | ||||
Relative to a statewide facility condition assessment for school buildings. | HB365 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Provides Dept of Education and Legislature on upcoming school facility requests supported by district goals | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to eligibility of students in the education freedom account program | HB367 | Lekas ( R ) | Support | Expands EFA income eligibility from 300% to 500% of poverty level | 02/01/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to screening and intervention in public schools for dyslexia and related disorders. | HB377 | Kuttab ( R ) | Support | Bi-partisan bill provides needed screening for dyslexia and related disorders in K-2 grades, and early intervention services. Will help these students and save special education costs later. | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to non-academic surveys administered by a public school or a chartered public school to its students | HB380 | Horrigan ( D ) | Oppose | Makes it easier for non-academic surveys to be given without parent notification or permission | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Allowing for a testing exception for graduation from high school. | HB399 | Corcoran ( D ) | Support with amendment | Requires Dept of Education to design high school equivalency test. Support assuming Dept of Education reports reasonable cost to design/update/administer the NH high school equivalency test | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the math learning communities program of the community college system and making an appropriation therefor | HB419 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Bi-partisan bill supports the math learning program in NH public high schools in collaboration with NH community colleges to overcome math skill deficits, and adds oversight with specific metrics to ensure effectiveness and return on investment of the program | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the availability and funding for the dual and concurrent enrollment program by the community college system. | HB420 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Enables grade 10-12 students to take community college courses in lieu of public school courses | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to school lunch payment policies. | HB424 | Horrigan ( D ) | Neutral | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | ||||
Requiring the offering of breakfast and lunch in all public and chartered public schools | HB429 | Elllison ( D ) | Oppose | Unfunded mandate requiring school districts to offer breakfast and to participate in the National School Breakfast Program | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to applications for the education freedom accounts program. | HB430 | Luneau ( D ) | Oppose | Unnecessarily limits eligibility for EFA program by requiring attendance at public school for at least a year, except for those entering kindergarten or grade 1. | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to relief aid calculation in determining grants for adequate education. | HB435 | Luneau ( D ) | Oppose | Provides unbounded state funding by increasing state adequacy grants to only school districts with more than 12% free/reduced price meal students and eliminates the $17.5M statutory funding cap. No fiscal note provided on estimate of cost. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to a reading assessment and intervention program. | HB437 | Cordelli ( R ) | Support | In grades K-3, provides much needed reading skills assessment and monitoring, then identified students receive measurable, evidence-based instruction | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the duty to provide an education and contracts with private schools. | HB439 | Cordelli ( R ) | TBD | This bill repeals the authority of a school board to execute a contract with a nonsectarian private | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the uses of education trust fund. | HB440 | Cordelli ( R ) | Support | Adds important uses for education trust fund including Education Freedom Accounts, public charter schools, kindergarten grants, and the infrastructure fund. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to eligible students in the education freedom account program | HB464 | Layon ( R ) | Support | Expands EFA eligibility to disadvantaged students | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to water bottle filling stations in schools. | HB466 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Removes requirement for State Board of Education to adopt rules relative to water bottle filing stations in schools. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Making an appropriation to the department of education for an attorney to recodify education laws. | HB468 | Hill ( D ) | Support | Legislators have encountered duplicative and conflicting statutes in RSA 186 through 200-N. Bill funds $100K for an education attorney to review and report recommendations to the General Court. | TBD | House Finance | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Establishing a New Hampshire farm-to-school reimbursement program | HB487 | Simpson ( D ) | Oppose | Creates unnecessary spending. Subsidizes school districts for 33.3% of costs for food purchased directly from NH farms, with first year administrative costs alone of $195K. | 02/01/2323 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Requiring the department of education to provide the house and senate standing committees responsible for education with copies of the laws and rules relative to education. | HB492 | Tanner( D ) | Oppose | Creates unnecessary burden and cost on Dept of Education, requiring them to provide annually copies the Education Laws and Rules to standing committees in any format and to any member of the General Court in the format preferred by that member. | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Committee Report | 2023 | |||
Relative to ages for special education services. | HB501 | Murphy ( D ) | Oppose | Unnecessary spending, by raising age from 20 to 21 for requirement to provide public special education to any student or inmate, unless high school diploma is earned. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to requiring towns and school districts use warrant articles for lobbying agents. | HB51 | Boehm ( R ) | Support with amendment | Requires separate warrant article for voters to decide if they want tax dollars to be used by lobbying by organizations like NHSBA, NHMA. Requires amendment to correct language (amend RSA 32:5) | TBD | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to requiring towns and school districts use warrant articles for lobbying agents. | HB51 | Boehm ( R ) | Support with amendment | Requires separate warrant article for voters to decide if they want tax dollars to be used by lobbying by organizations like NHSBA, NHMA. Requires amendment to correct language. | TBD | House Municipal & CG | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to additional aid grants for schools based on free and reduced price meals and fiscal capacity disparity. | HB529 | Fellows ( D ) | Oppose | Targets more education aid to certain towns and cities. Increases state adequacy grants to only school districts with more than 12% free/reduced price meal students and less than $1.6M equalized property valuation per student. All others get no additional funding. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to withdrawal from a cooperative school district. | HB530 | Cordelli ( R ) | Support | Provides sensible, practical modifications to the withdrawal procedure of a school district from a cooperative school district | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to public school human rights complaints. | HB533 | Cordelli ( R ) | Support | Enables Dept. of Education to bring a complaint on student discriminatory practices, by a school or school district, to the state commission on human rights, helping student and parents effectively navigate the complaint process, better protecting students' rights. | TBD | House Judiciary | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to adequate education grant amounts for pupils receiving special education services. | HB540 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Bi-partisan bill provides increased state adequacy aid for state mandated special education: 8.5% more for students with students services less 80% of the day, 147% more for students receiving services 80%+ of the day, and 226% more for full-time separate programs. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to school building aid grants and making an appropriation therefor. | HB541 | Wallner ( D ) | Oppose | Appropriates $100M for school aid building fund in FY24 and FY25, and requires minimum of $50M annually starting in FY25. Currently annual appropriation is capped at $50M. Risk is that change may incentivize school building project "wants" over true "needs" with available funding. Recommend passing amended HB546 instead, allowing legislature to determine right funding level each biennium. | TBD | House Finance | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Establishing an academic research and improvement performance data analyst in the department of education. | HB542 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Bi-partisan bill for new Dept. of Education data analyst to measure student progress, evaluate program and instructional effectiveness, guide curriculum development and resource allocation, and promote accountability. Position works with educators in the effective use of data to drive and improve education decision-making. Annual cost about of $150K. | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the school building aid program. | HB546 | Ladd ( D ) | Support with amendment | Requires minimum of $50M annually appropriated to school aid building fund starting in FY24. Currently annual appropriation is capped at $50M. Risk is that change may incentivize school building project "wants" over true "needs" with available funding. Recommend amendment removing cap and minimum, allowing legislature to determine right funding level each biennium. | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to eligibility for free school meals. | HB572 | Hall ( D ) | Oppose | Unfunded state mandate increasing number of free and reduced price meals (and commensurate cost to local taxpayers). Raises threshold for qualifying for free school meals from 130% to 300% and reduced priced meals from 185% to 300% of federal poverty guidelines. | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to state aid for special education pupils. | HB577 | Moulton ( D ) | Support | Reduces local cost of underfunded mandate to provide special education, lowering threshold for 80% state aid to start at 1.5 times state average expenditure per pupil, versus the current 3.5 times level. Consider lowering 100% aid from 10X to 5X level. To be most effective, special education aid appropriations must be increased in biennial budget. | 01/31/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Establishing the position of reporting administrator in the department of education. | HB578 | Moffett ( R ) | Neutral | Bi-partisan bill creates reporting administrator position to provide technical assistance and metrics for areas such as gifted students, extraordinary need grants, civics instruction, 3rd grade reading. | 02/01/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to state participation in the Medicaid direct certification program for free and reduced price school meals. | HB601 | Heath ( D ) | Neutral | Directs Dept. of Education to seek participation in the USDA Demonstration Projects to Evaluate Direct Certification with Medicaid. | 02/06/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to teaching on discrimination in the public schools and discrimination in public workplaces. | HB61 | Petrigno ( D ) | Oppose | Would allow the teaching of divisive concepts in public schools, reversing law based in 2021 | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the calculation of average daily membership in attendance and average daily membership in residence for school districts | HB625 | Cordelli ( R ) | Support | Provides sensible and fair corrections to calculation of average daily membership in attendance (ADMA) and average daily membership in residence (ADMR) to account for homeschoolers at 0.15 per academic course taken at a public school grades 1-12. Similar to HB637. | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Requiring the department of education to administer the education freedom account. | HB626 | Luneau ( D ) | Oppose | Proposes undesirable changes to successful EFA program. Attempts to shift administration of EFA program from the well run Scholarship Organization to the Dept of Education. Also contains an ambiguous backdoor attempt to rescind EFAs from students when they "become ineligible" and institute an annual rollover cap on EFA funds. | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to local education improvement plans and disparities in education. | HB627 | Lekas ( R ) | Support with amendment | This bill revises the strategic responses of a school district in a local education improvement | TBD | House Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Relative to the calculation of average daily membership in attendance for certain home educated pupils. | HB637 | Hobson ( R ) | Support | Provides sensible and fair corrections to calculation of average daily membership in attendance (ADMA) and average daily membership in residence (ADMR) to account for homeschoolers at 0.15 per academic course taken at a public school grades K-12. Removes requirement contingent on available appropriations. Similar to HB625. | 01/27/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Relative to the extraordinary need grants to schools. | HB638 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Removes administrative requirement for accountability plan for grants under $50K and other reasonable minor changes, to streamline implementation of extraordinary need grant administration. These grants are for free/reduced priced school meals for property poor towns. | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to the one-year certificate of teaching eligibility. | HB654 | Ladd ( R ) | Support | Grants reasonable and commonsense authority to a school board to extend a teaching certificate of eligibility to an individual, one-time for a second year, to address teacher shortages in specific disciplines. | 02/03/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Repealing a department of education report on chartered public school funding. | HB71 | Mooney ( R ) | Support | Eliminate unnecessary monthly reporting requirements for DoE (same as SB25) | 02/01/23 | House Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 | |||
Relative to school safety and coordination with law enforcement. | SB109 | Lang ( R ) | Support | Reasonable to make schools safer by clarifying that school employees can communicate with law enforcement on an ongoing basis for the purpose of taking preventative actions against threats to the health, safety, and wellbeing of students. | 01/24/23 | Senate Education | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Relative to the adoption of school administrative unit budgets. | SB155 | Avard ( R ) | Support | With explosive growth in number of administrators in SAUs, this legislation requires every school district to use a separate warrant article for the SAU Budget at the annual school district meeting, or by legislative body if no annual meeting. | 02/07/23 | Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs | Committee | Pending | Public Hearing | 2023 | |||
Repealing a requirement for a report on chartered public school payments. | SB25 | Ward ( R ) | Support | Eliminate unnecessary monthly reporting requirements for DoE (same as HB71) | TBD | Senate Education | Senate | Adopted | House | 2023 | |||
Relative to changes in school placement for students. | SB77 | Avard ( R ) | Support | Adds an approved private school to the options for placing a student that is in a manifest educational hardship. | TBD | Senate Education | Senate | Adopted | House | 2023 | |||
Relative to the individualized education programs of chartered public school students. | SB93 | Avard ( R ) | Support with amendment | Enables chartered public schools to lead development of an IEP and provide IEP services to the student internally or via contract. While bill states state and federal funds from the resident district shall be sent to the chartered public school, it leaves chartered public school with the rest of financial liability. Amendment is needed to keep resident district financially responsible, otherwise chartered public schools will take on additional significant financial burden. | TBD | Senate Education | Committee | Pending | Executive Session | 2023 |